By Lisa Murray

The north end NMRA clinic’s program for October is a Beginners Operating Session hosted by Burr Stewart.
If you are interested in seeing what an operating session entails, or even if you have model railroad operating experience, this clinic will be a practicum in operations and a chance to operate trains on Burr’s expansive home layout, The Burrlington Northern Railroad.
The clinic will be held on Thursday, October 3, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at Burr’s home which is located at 204 NW 112th St., Seattle 98177. There is plenty of parking at or near the house, and it is located in between the #5 and #28X bus lines north of Greenwood.
The railroad has seven working yards from Tukwila to Bellingham, and there are Thru, Local, and Switching jobs from which you can choose. You will also have the option to work in single or two-person crews. The operation is set in 1973 and uses car cards and waybills for car routing and track warrants for train authority, with an NCE DCC throttle system. WiThrottle will also be available if you prefer to use your cellphone for train control. There are also a few new ProtoThrottles available if you want to try them out.
Since we will only have two hours for the ops session, the goal is not to finish all the jobs, but to give folks who have been interested in operating sessions a taste of what’s involved (and the fun that it is!).
That being said, if you have ops experience, please come! We’d love to have as many people there to provide input and share their experiences.
Attached you will find documentation about the railroad layout to help you prepare for next Thursday.
The four files attached include:

• a diagram (track plan) of the layout
• a detailed SPINS document which outlines the numbering and coding system used on the Burrlington RR
• general instructions for operators
• specific train instructions for all the jobs on the railroad, so you can identify the type of jobs you would like to do at the ops session

Please RSVP if you are planning to attend so we can get a sense of how many people will be there. 
RSVP to this email (mattinata@outlook.com)with the following information:
Name
Number attending
Operating session level of experience

I am looking forward to seeing you at Burr’s!
Lisa

By Lisa Murray

Burrlington Railroad Open house
The NMRA North End Clinic is pleased to announce that its October clinic will be held at the home of Burr Stewart. NMRA members and guests are welcome to join us as we visit his expansive HO layout and run trains.

Bring your HO scale DCC engines (and favorite rolling stock, etc) to run during what should be an enjoyable evening and a great way to introduce the hobby to your friends and family.
Light refreshments will be served.

Ample parking can be found on the left side of the house and along the street.
Please follow the signage and enter the house at the door at the RIGHT of the house.
NOTE: The layout is in the basement of the home and is NOT handicap accessible.

Home of Burr Stewart
204 NW 112th Street
Seattle, WA 98177

Lisa

by Lisa Murray

Date: Thursday, December 7, 2017
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline, WA 98133

Our speaker this month is Aidan Murray, who will be presenting about the Cascade Tunnel and also discussing some of the strategies that he uses when building model train consists.

We will also take time at the end for show and tell.
There will be a table for you to display what you are bringing.

Also, feel free to share what train related gear you are asking Santa to bring this year!

Please arrive at 7:00, so we can set things up prior to the start of the meeting.
The program will start at 7:15.

By Jeff Moorman

Next Clinic:

The next Seattle-North clinic is Thursday, September 7, 2017. We will chat about what we did (railroad-wise) over the summer, listen to a brief report on the National Narrow Gauge Convention that just concluded in Denver, and regale in whatever is brought for show & tell.

Directions:

We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location. There are parking lots at both the front and rear of the church. From the rear lot go up the steps to the main entrance. Once inside, the room where we usually meet (now called the Gathering Room) is up the stairs and to your left. From the front parking lot go straight in the center door and then to your right.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, September to May. In June we often do something different, so there is no “regular” meeting. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the program will start at 7:30.

Seattle-North Goes on Tour June 1, 2017
By Jeff Moorman
Next Clinic:
The next regular Seattle-North clinic is not until September. BUT, on June 1 we will be doing a layout mini-tour before going on summer hiatus for July and August.
Do not go to the regular meeting place. The tour starts at 7:00 PM, June 1, 2017 from the Edmonds – South Snohomish County Historical Society and Museum building located at 118 5th Ave N, Edmonds, WA. From there you will be given directions to the other layouts. (4 total).
A few reminders:
• This is not a public tour, NMRA members and their guests only please.
• Pay attention to the handouts you will be given. Not all places are open for the full 3 hours (7 until 10). Some may open an hour later or close an hour earlier. Please honor the listed open hours for each particular layout.
• Be mindful of private property when you are driving around and parking in residential neighborhoods.

Any questions about the tour should be directed to Bobj Berger – 425 774 9165 – to whom we owe many thanks for arranging this year’s event. And many, many thanks to those who have agreed to let us see their modelling handiwork.

Last Clinic:
We continued our discussion of backdrops to include viewing the 3rd and 4th videos in Chris Lyon’s YouTube series about “Painting Backdrops for Large Layouts…”.
There were 3 contributors for show and tell.
• Aidin M brought along three of his recent additions. First was a HO 4-8-4 Northern from MTH lettered for the Norfolk & Western. Next was a small HO scale crane vehicle. And lastly an N-scale C&O wood chip gondola.
• Dennis T had a 4-foot module backdrop (for N-scale) he did using the techniques from the video series we have been watching. It had a lot more visual interest than the distant/middle/near layered hill approach that many of us are used to.
• Jeff M displayed an N-scale caboose (Atlas Trainman #35559). It was painted in the classic BN green with yellow ends. Each side sported a BN logo with the words “Burlington Northern” below, but the reporting marks said “C&S” (not “BN”). The Colorado & Southern was a subsidiary of the CB&Q, but when the Q merged with the GN, NP, and SP&S to form the BN in 1970, the C&S was not included. The exact reason for this is not apparent, probably some legal/financial/labor quirk. It finally became an integral part of the BN in 1981. At that time, the C&S didn’t have a paint scheme of its own, it used the CB&Q scheme with its own reporting marks. So between 1970 and 1981, new (or repainted) C&S equipment was done in BN green with C&S reporting marks or ID stencils.
Directions: We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location. There are parking lots at both the front and rear of the church. From the rear lot go up the steps to the main entrance. Once inside, the room where we usually meet is up to your left.
Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, September to May. In June we often do something different, so there is no “regular” meeting. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the program will start at 7:30.
Note that the next regular evening meeting will be September 7, 2017. Hoever, there is a mini-tour of 4 local layouts planned for June 1. See above for tour details. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Next Clinic:

The next Seattle-North clinic is Thursday, May 4, 2017. We will continue to explore the subject of creating layout backgrounds.  We’ll see the next installment in Chris Lyon’s YouTube series on “Painting Backdrops for Large Layouts…”. And a couple of members have promised to bring along more examples.

Last Clinic:

The fallen flag mini-clinic concerned the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad. The T&G was a 100-mile-long, Class 2, standard gauge railroad in southwestern Nevada. It was active (sometimes just barely) from 1905 until 1947.

We continued our discussion of backdrops. First, those that wished had a chance to actually try painting some of the “blob, blob, blob” backgrounds shown in the prior clinic’s video. Yes indeed, you can get a presentable range of background foliage colors using a mix of just Mars Black and Lemon Yellow.

I brought a 4-foot backdrop section from a practice module I did many years ago. Nothing fancy, but it did show the impact of adding a little haze between the various “layers” of mountains/hills.

We viewed the second backdrop video in the YouTube series by Chris Lyon. This showed a few ways to enhance the basic “blob, blob, blob” technique previously used to establish the base terrain.

There were 3 contributors for show and tell.

• Aidin M brought a couple of HO express boxcars. One forty-footer lettered for the UP and one 65-foot Amtrak example. It was interesting seeing the differences as they represented two separate eras in railroad operations. Also, they sparked a lively discussion of just want LCL traffic Amtrak handled, and when.
• Bobj B had three various collections of tie dating nails, used for decades to document the manufacture date of wooden railroad ties. One was Bobj’s own collection and two were collections he had acquired. It was interesting to see the variety of “nails” used. Everything from miniature spikes to oversized brass tacks.
• Dave N showed a couple of HO maritime pieces. One was a harbor tug built from the almost ubiquitous plastic kit from Revell. The other was an aggregate barge from a Kibri kit. Both were very well crafted.

Directions: We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location. There are parking lots at both the front and rear of the church. From the rear lot go up the steps to the main entrance. Once inside, the room where we usually meet is up to your left.

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, September to May. In June we often do something different, so there is no “regular” meeting. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the program will start at 7:30.

Note that the next regular evening meeting is May 4, 2017. The next regular clinic after that will be September 7, 2017. In the interim plans are well underway for a local mini layout tour on June 1. Keep checking the Grab Iron for the latest details. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Important note regarding meeting arrangements. For the months of February, March, and April we will be meeting downstairs in the church Fellowship Hall, not upstairs where we have been. That space is being used to temporarily house a tax service. However, the church hosts community dinners in the Fellowship Hall on the evenings we meet. Those dinners end at 7:00, so their clean-up will overlap our set-up. Therefore, we may encounter some situations where we need to be flexible.

Next Clinic:

The next Seattle-North clinic is Thursday, April 6, 2017. We will continue to explore the subject of creating layout backgrounds. And, we will test the theory that only green and mars black paints are needed to create green background foliage.

Last Clinic:

The fallen flag mini-clinic concerned the Grand Trunk Railway (GT). It was the predecessor to the Canadian National (CN), but some of its US holdings are still in operation under the Grand Truck (actually Grand Trunk Western (GTW)) moniker. The Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) was the western arm of the GT and was one of three Canadian transcontinental routes. Did you know the GTP had a pier on the Seattle waterfront to service its steamships on Puget Sound?

We began our discussion of backdrops. It seems there may be more ways of doing a backdrop than there are of ballasting track. So, like many aspects of model railroading, when asked about what’s the best way of doing a backdrop, the answer is, “It all depends.” You first need to set the context of your backdrop and determine what you are trying to accomplish with it. Only then can you start making the big decisions, like a painted versus a photographic backdrop (or perhaps some hybrid form). Or will the backdrop be flat or 3-D (or maybe some of each). Another thing to consider is what level of detail needs to be depicted in the backdrop. A backdrop which is much more detailed than the foreground may detract from the trains. But, it cannot be too simple either.

We viewed a YouTube video by Chris Lyon called “Painting Backdrops for Large Layouts, Part 1”. This demonstrated a slightly different approach to doing backdrops, as well as providing a common reference point for further discussion.

There were 3 contributors for show and tell.

• Dennis T brought 3 N scale buildings assembled from laser cut wood kits. One was a saloon, one a small station, and one a more generic structure he had first started in a make and take clinic some time ago.

• Bob K brought another newly acquired HO 4-6-6-4, although this time in brass. The Tenshodo box label says it is a Northern Pacific Z6. However, Bob seems to think that since it is an oil burner, it is likely of SP&S heritage. Either way it is a nice model.

• Thom K had several little vehicles he had found at a recent swap meet. But his big discovery was a copy of the book “Express, Mail & Merchandise Service” by Jeff Wilson (published by Kalmbach). Clinic regulars know of Thom’s affinity for REA operations in the Pacific Northwest and he says this book is much broader in scope than what he has previously presented to us.

Directions: We meet at the Ronald United Methodist Church, 17839 Aurora Avenue North, Shoreline, WA. That is on the west side of Aurora (State Route 99) between 175th and 185th Streets and more specifically, between the Cadillac dealer on the south and Deseret Industries to the north. Going southbound on Aurora, make a right-hand turn into the church driveway immediately after passing the Deseret location. The parking lot is at the rear of the church. From that lot go up the steps to the main entrance. Once inside, the room where we meet is up to your left. [Per the note above in February, March, and April  you can follow these instructions, but go down the stairs once inside. Or you can enter the lower level door on the far left from the rear parking lot.]

Meetings are the first Thursday of each month, September to May. In June we often do something different, so there is no “regular” meeting. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the program will start at 7:30.

Remember the next regular evening meeting is April 6, 2017. The next clinic after that will be May 4. Hope to see you there or at least sometime on down the line.

By Jeff Moorman

Important note regarding meeting arrangements. For the months of February, March, and April we will be meeting downstairs in the church Fellowship Hall, not upstairs where we have been. That space is being used to temporarily house a tax service. However, the church hosts community dinners in the Fellowship HalI on the evenings we meet. Those dinners end at 7:00, so their clean-up will overlap our set-up. Therefore, we may encounter some situations where we need to be flexible.

Next Clinic: The next Seattle-North clinic is Thursday, March 2, 2017. The plan is to explore the subject of creating layout backgrounds, plus resume another installment in our fallen flags mini-clinics.

Last Clinic: Our “surprise” video was from Bobj who also supplied occasional narration. It was mostly a series of edited cuts, that hadn’t yet been combined into a contiguous piece. It showed some of the same gorgeous western Canadian scenery and the same lovely Canadian steam as “Rocky Mountain Express”.

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